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16 women a day turned away at abuse refuges

Suffers of mental health problems and substance abuse were less likely to be admitted to centresANGELIKA SCHWARZ/GETTY IMAGES

Almost 6,000 cases of women and children fleeing domestic violence were turned away from refuge centres in 2015 due to a chronic shortage of space.

Tusla, the child and family agency, issued a working report for last year which said that over half of state-funded refuge services declined to take domestic abuse victims because of substance misuse or mental health issues.

It reported that 5,917 requests for a place in a refuge were turned down last year “largely due to a lack of available spaces.” The figure is an increase from 2014 when at least 4,000 women and children were turned away according to a report by SAFE Ireland, the domestic abuse umbrella group.

European wide domestic abuse legislation states that the country must have…